[ubercuber]

Wow! Didn't read entire thread, but will. I wanted to comment before going to bed.

First off, thanks for sharing your life so openly. Powerful to read, especially having been there myself.

I won't get into it, to but I had a drug filled past and was a logic based proactive non believer as well. I
could never get why God would want me to shut off my brain and just believe. I found a reason when I needed a group of children to stop asking questions and just listen to my instructions in an emergency situation. I later found myself planning to convince them that sometimes I need them to just trust me and that they don't always need to know what is going on! I immediatly made the connection and abandoned my main issue and told God I'd basically give it a shot. This is getting too long but suffice to say tha the next three months of my life saw changes that I never would have believed would happen...I was being transformed from the inside out. This is how I "just know" that God is for real. I hated that explanation from Christians when I wanted real answers!

I think many don't want to accept God cuz they think they have to sacrifice to lead a Godly life. But take it from someone who missed out on none of the wild times...the stuff God warns against is for our own good. Don't try to imagine "life without...", you have no idea what God can do with your life, don't give up anything but control, He will help you with the rest.

Some poker/God thoughts:

Giving up fast life for "boring life" is like folding Ax...you're giving up junk and avoiding sooooo much trouble.

Faith vs Brain: Does any poker player need to be reminded how badly the brain can work against you? Shut it off for six months on this issue and let God go to work. I was amazed. I used to argue how stupid the whole concept of faith was when considering God designed my thinking system. Now, I really don't care about any of the things that used to trouble me. God delivered, case closed.

What is the EV of non belief? If you are right, so what? If you are wrong, you are screwed. So you will lose the most, and gain the least by non belief, and gain the most and lose the least by belief. (Hoping I just talked my way out of trouble with God for spending waaayy more time reading Sklansky than the Bible.) I know this argument leaves a bad taste the mouths of some, but hey...it is what it is, what good is complaining going to do you...God can be harsh. Deal.

The Rick Warren book is great btw. Also Mere Christianity by CS Lewis

Thanks again for the thread.